Recently I’ve become fascinated by the British and their iconic hedgerows. They’d gotten away from replanting, maintaining, and repairing their hedgerows since the end of WWII, but now they are really trying to get back in tune with the hedgerows. The gray hairs are teaching the young people how to hedge, there are a lot of organizations behind trying to preserve this part of their culture, and hedgerow awareness is probably at an all time high!

What’s all the fuss about? Who cares about silly hedges? Yes, but you must watch and read. To make a long story short, the hedgerows are the “woods”, they are the fences, they are windbreaks, and they are their own little ecosystem/habitat – albeit connected and running for thousands and thousands of miles.

Why am I so interested? Well, I’m moving to to Kansas, which, to me, is like moving onto the windswept tundra. There will be coyotes everywhere, I’m going to feel exposed to the elements, it’s going to be very cold, and the sheep and I will want cover.

Enter: hedgerow! I’m going to plant a 500 foot hedgerow of Kansas native plants such as golden currant, red bud, and sycamore on the new property in Kansas. Look at all these great plants I can get from the Kansas Forest Service! It’s conservation time! Where’s my shovel?